Delhi University may offer up to 20 percent of its courses through online mediums on the Swayam portal.
At its meeting on November 30, the Academic Council will be presented with a proposal in this regard. The proposal states that colleges may think about offering up to 20% of all courses offered in a given program online during a given semester. The proposal stated that this would enhance the institute’s teaching-learning process. As per Maya John, assistant professor at Jesus Mary College, the proposal is likely to face resistance from a significant portion of the AC members who believe that the university’s ability to generate jobs will be jeopardized due to the increasing popularity of online learning.
Since this plan is anti-teacher and anti-student, nearly 90% of Academic Council members will vote against it. For many students from diverse backgrounds, classroom instruction is crucial, and this will affect the demand for teachers, whose jobs will be replaced by online learning on Swayam, the speaker said.
The proposal aligns with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which seeks to use Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) provided by the Swayam platform to help achieve a 50% Gross Enrollment Ratio (GRE) in higher education by 2035.
To adopt the UGC (Credit Framework for Online Learning Courses through SWYAM) Regulations, 2016, the Academic Council applied to the Executive Council in June 2019.
The university’s Department of Commerce had stated earlier this year that it intended to use MOOCs created by department teachers and base its course design on the university’s curriculum.
Details about the course coordinator, title, and credit allocation for the MOOC were decided upon and approved at a February Departmental Council meeting.
At the moment, Delhi University does not offer MOOCs via Swayam, a government website that offers students free online courses.